
Kimiko Yo was born in Yokohama, a city just south of Tokyo to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father on the 12th of May 1956. Her cousin was actress Bunjaku Han. She became active in front of the camera in 1987 and has been a feature of Japanese television and cinema ever since. She had begun acting on the theatre stage in 1976. Audiences may mostly know her for her supporting role in Shin Gojira, as a sympathetic colleague in the 2008 films Departures, which won an Oscar, and kind wife and waitress in Ramen Girl, but she has almost 200 credits to her name. These include an abnormal neighbour in The Drugstore girl and serene presence in Café Lumière where she was directed by a Taiwanese director in Japan. Dear Doctor (2009) propelled her name forward in Japan and was an award winner. She has several Japan Academy prizes to her name. Like most celebrities she pushes products and has done commercials for telephone companies, shampoos and cosmetics manufacturers. Yo is married to a man who at the time was a NHK employee in 2006 and is managed by the Alpha Agency.

The Files of the Young Kindaichi
TV • 1995

The Naked Director
TV • 2019

Half Blue Sky
TV • 2018

Mr. Housekeeper, Mitazono
TV • 2016

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories
TV • 2016

Churasan
TV • 2001

dele
TV • 2018

Back of Father
TV • 2014

Dangerous Detective
TV • 1986

Dangerous Detective
TV • 1986

Kazama Kimichika: Kyojo Zero
TV • 2023

The Files of Young Kindaichi
TV • 2022

Into the White Night
TV • 2006

The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
TV • 2015

Atsuhime
TV • 2008

Affectionate Time
TV • 2005

Shin Godzilla
MOVIE • 2016

Sanctuary
TV • 2023